A Facilitator’s Best Practices

Listen to this video as a podcast Facilitation has been called “a state of mind and a set of skills.” When you step into the role of facilitator, your primary focus shifts from the “what” to the “how” as you take on some new responsibilities. Discussion Questions: What are some benefits of having a facilitator […]

Partner Culture Awareness

Listen to this video as a podcast. Seek to understand the seven attributes of organizational culture: Mission, Practice, People, Governance, Financial Capacity, Tradition and Institutional History.  Consider how you introduce elements of your organization’s culture to new and long-standing partners as your organization changes over time.  Assess the gaps in your understanding of a partner’s […]

Collaborative Conservation: Spectrum of Public Engagement

 Explore key concepts and best practices for making collaboration work. Collaboration is a process through which parties who see different aspects of a problem can constructively explore their differences, and search for solutions that go beyond what any one of them might have thought possible. This video was produced by the US Fish and […]

Accountability When Working with Partnerships

Listen to this video as a podcast. Explore the four elements of accountability: Effective Controls, Rules and Responsibilities, Time and Budget and Monitor and Evaluation. Learn how to translate these four elements into partnership actions focused on Communication, Teambuilding, Tracking and Troubleshooting and Learning and Sharing. Discussion Questions: What types of communication skills best serve […]

Ladder of Inference

Listen to this video as a podcast. Discussion Questions: Think of a time recently when you ran up the ladder of inference. What data did you select to focus on? What assumptions, conclusions, beliefs and actions did that lead you to?  What are the benefits of “walking slowly back down the ladder”? What actions will […]

Partnership Network Life Cycle

Listen to this video as a podcast. Partnerships evolve and mature like the life cycle of a butterfly. Examine the Vision and Concept Stages of the partnership caterpillar. Create a firm foundation during the Research and Development and Implementation Planning Stages of the partnership chrysalis. Take flight with the Action and Evaluation and Recognition Stages of […]

Situation Assessments: An Overview

Some of the most controversial and politicized debates in the United States today concern the appropriate management of natural resources. In response, collaborative problem solving has become more commonplace. This approach is grounded in the belief that if you bring together the right people in constructive ways with good information, they will develop reciprocal understanding, […]

Evaluating Partnerships in Conservation

Introduction, The Interplay, and Logic Models highlight evaluation concepts including Wicked Problems and the Theory of Change as well as tools related to planning, implementing and assessing the conservation activities of partnerships. Assessment reveals concepts that support an evaluator’s toolkit including Random, Quasi and Natural Experiments. Learn more about qualitative and quantitative choices in data […]

Internal, Interpersonal and Group Dynamics in Collaboration

Discover the multiple dynamics in play when we work in collaboration with others. Learn about the predictable patterns that describe our own emotional reactions, and the dynamics of group behavior. Understand how we can tackle difficult situations by starting with ourselves. Discussion Questions: How do internal, interpersonal and group dynamics explain the “messiness” of collaboration? […]

Edwards Aquifer Recovery Implementation Program: Community-Based Solutions (Video)

Competing community interests related to water access, use and conservation sets the stage for the Edwards Aquifer Recovery Implementation Plan. Discover how representatives of diverse interests came together over a decade to respond to a court ruling requiring a community-based solution to the public’s interest in water. Learn more about how the role of water law, […]